Beer: Reviews & Ratings

Pours a hazy dark crimson-orange with a foamy khaki head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Thin streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of toasted malt, caramel, fruit, and cardboard aromas. Taste is much the same with Tootsie Roll, caramel, dark fruit, and cardboard flavors on the finish. There is a very mild amount of earth bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a low level of carbonation with an almost flat and medium bodied mouthfeel. Overall, this is an average beer with an interesting Tootsie Roll flavor, but I am also getting a decent amount of oxidation that tells me this one must be fairly old at this point.

From a 330 ml bottle into a chalice. Reviewed from notes dated May 25, 2013.

A-The brew is slightly cloudy with a deep amber/tawny color. The head is quite thin and greyish tan in color. There is little retention or lacing. Mundane.

S-The smell is full of brown sugar, caramel, and syrup. There is just a bit of nut and baking spice. It is quite sweet, but strangely pleasing.

T-The taste follows the smell with sweet, syrupy flavors being pretty much the only show in town. Like the smell, it is one-dimensional, but strangely tasty.

M-The feel is very soft with ultra-fine carbonation that gives a creamy texture.

O-This is a one-hit wonder of a beer, but I found it strangely good. It is very sugary, and would make a nice dessert brew, but compared against the best dark ales, it is not as complex or intriguing as it could be. (836 characters)

Overall: A good BDA that I got from volunteering the BBF last year. Good to know it held up for over a year. A have two other styles from the brewery that I am looking forward to this week. (636 characters)

330 ml bottle into chalice, best by 5/2013. Pours slightly hazy reddish brown color with a nice 2-3 finger billowing light khaki head with fantastic retention that reduces to a thick cap that lasts forever. Some nice soapy lacing on the glass; with a good amount of carbonation streaming up. Aromas of raisin, plum, cherry, caramel, molasses, herbal, candi sugar, biscuit, earth, and yeast spices. Some nice aromas with good balance and complexity. Taste of plum, raisin, molasses, caramel, biscuit, herbal, candi sugar, yeast spices, and a bit of a metallic flavor; but it isn’t too bad. Lingering notes of dark fruit, herbal, molasses, biscuit, and yeast spices on the finish for a bit. Good flavor balance and complexity. Medium-high carbonation and medium bodied; with a fairly creamy and very smooth mouthfeel. Very easy to drink. Alcohol is hidden well with only a slight warming after the finish. Overall this is a very enjoyable Belgian dark ale. I would not mind having it again sometime. (999 characters)

11.2oz longneckA) Pours with a big tan head that settles quickly leaving a nice lacing at the edge of the glass. Clear ruby body.S) Bread. Brown sugar. But not very aromatic.T) Malty sweetness. Caramel. Toffee. Hints of plum and raisins.M) Creamy. Smooth. Medium body.O) A pretty decent brew. I think if I happen upon it again I would drink it again. (355 characters)

Smell: light but smooth malty aroma with notes of raisin, plum and tobacco all resting on a base of smooth milk chocolate. Very good, but unfortunately all that beauty is muted -- the intensity of the aroma is very, very light. I would love to see the volume turned up on this combination of smells.

Taste: not as well put-together as the aroma. The flavor starts off with something more akin to a smoked lapsang souchong tea combined with a bit of an acidic tartness; I'd be interested in knowing how their maltster makes their dark malts. Some of the fruits remain intact, and bitterness is extremely low. Not bad, but it's a bit weird for my taste.

Mouthfeel: light body with a decent carbonation. It's a bit watery, but it's a bit creamy, too. Not great, but decent enough.

Overall: I'm simply not in love with this beer. It's not that bad, but it sort of rubs me the wrong way. (1,048 characters)

The appearance is pretty normal for Belgian Dark Ale. Tight bubbles dissipate quickly and leave little in the way of a head. The smell is nice and gets better as it warms and it comes out. Smell of vanilla and spice and dark fruit. The taste is not too bad but left a little of an off taste on the palate. Overall not a bad dark some good qualities but pretty middle of the road. (379 characters)

(Served in a chalice)best before A0313A- This beer pours a dense slightly hazy walnut brown with a bubbly white head that fades to a ring of big bubbles and the body is a bit to dense to see any carbonation.

S- The slightly tart note leads to brown malt and a cider/cherry quality to it. There is a sweet woody brown sugar aroma that has a candy quality to it in the finish.

T-The slight vinous quality to the brown malt flavor has some dry brown sugar notes to follow and a watery taste as the beer opens. The soft sweetness in the finish lingers for a moment.

M- This beer has a light mouthfeel with a tight fizz that cleans up the finish and no alcohol heat.

O- This beer has some nice flavor and depth but it is pretty soft and turns watery and thin. The fizz really covers a lot of the character as the beer opens. (825 characters)

Pours a dark Hellish red-brown, lots of swampy haze and a decent dark beige head that sinks steadily but retains a nice thin crown of small bubbles. Lace is understandably sticky. Looks good for the style, and in general.

Smells quite fruity, in a dark sense. Lots of raisins, prunes and glacé cherry with a good musty spice at the back giving green peppercorns and some rye notes. Sweetness is perhaps a bit too pervasive but it's otherwise got all the right elements.

Taste is fairly malty on the front with a toffee/Belgian candi sugar kind of flavour upfront. Develops more interesting, complex sweet notes midway with maraschino cherries, plums and a marzipan flavour adding some bitterness to proceedings. Late-mid there's a touch of cola that coincides with a real dry fizz on the mouthfeel, then finish is dark, phenolic and earthy with residual sweetness taking on an overripe, syrupy complexity at the back.

I want to like this, but there's no real skillful blend of the flavours and they just seem like they're just going through the motions with an unbalanced palate being the end result. Sweet on front, phenolic on back, standard without any wow factor.

A bit thin on the body overall and could have used more.

A decent, but not outstanding drop, overall. Lack of excitement does not equal lack of appreciation. (1,331 characters)

Pours hazy brown with a small lasting head.Nose shows caramel and golden syrup with very little else.Flavours are even sweeter, with truckloads of candi sugar. Apart from that there isn't much else. Finishes with a sharp but unsupported bitterness - the sweetness has already faded by then!Too watery by far.Really, this is ridiculously sweet. Relies too much on candi sugar. (379 characters)

A: The beer poured dark copper in color into a snifter glass with a thin white head that quickly dies down into a thin layer of bubbles. A light to moderate amount of carbonation is visible.S: There are aromas of malty sweetness and dark fruits in the nose.T: The taste is very similar to the smell and is both sweet with lots of flavors of dark fruits including plums and raisins. No bitterness is detectable.M: It feels medium-bodied on the palate and very smooth.D: The beer is extremely easy to drink. I definitely want to try this again because I like the combination of sweetness and flavors of dark fruits. (617 characters)

Ordered 3 bottles from my Bangalore contact. Poured from the 33 cl bottle into my Chimay goblet. Let it fall aggressively to promote head as the Chimay goblet always gives you room for that. Poured a dark, ruby red opaque with a 2" tan head. Looked frothy and set at first but quickly receded into a thin collar over the body. Orangish brown flecks were observed dancing all over - somewhat appearing a little unpleasant / unappetising. However, we are used to Belgians being rampant with these addititons. The nose was like fermented carrot extract (there is a local drink like that) with yeast and bread notes to boot. It was vinegary surprisingly and the fruitiness was rather subdued, a characteristic which you would think would dominate in a BDA.The taste was tart at first, predictable from the smell but underneath lay some sweetness and dark malt flavours. The whole package was a little subdued and shortlived, only a warming trail of booze that remained on the palate. Also, some bready flavours were traced after as I had more of the Pater.The beer was smooth and non abrasive, in other words the carbonation was on the lower end. As I finished the glass, I noticed thin streaks of lacing randomly dotting the glass. I am a big fan of Belgian beers, but I can confidently say this is my least favourite of them all - not bad but the least favourite till now. Maybe I will give it another shot after a month or so and see if there is a variance in my experience. (1,475 characters)

Pours a three finger cream head that fades quickly to a thin layer leaving a good lace. Medium-strong carbonation and medium bodied. Cloudy brown color. Yeast left in bottom of bottle. Nose is dark fruit. Flavor is dark fruit and caramel but finish has metallic hints. $19.95 for a 4-pak of 330ml bottles from Colonial Spirits, Acton, MA. (338 characters)